As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Many information handling systems include a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) firmware as part of a system motherboard. Among other things, the BIOS detects bootable devices that are included in an information handling system. One of the steps of the BIOS's power on system test (POST) is to detect and initialize bootable devices. The BIOS also loads an operating system (O/S) on the information handling system. The order of devices for which the BIOS attempts to load an O/S may be determined by the user or be a default setting of the computer.
Bootable devices may be added to or removed from an information handling system. The boot sequence of bootable devices following a POST may be determined, based in part, on how the BIOS identifies and handles a newly added component. For example, if a bootable device is added to an information handling system, the BIOS may place that newly added device at the end of the boot sequence. Additionally, if a newly added device replaces a previously detected bootable device, then the BIOS may add that newly added device to the end of the boot sequence. In this case, although the added device replaced an existing device, the boot sequence for the information handling system changed following the addition of the new device. As a consequence, a user would have to manually modify the boot sequence to restore the boot sequence to that order before the next boot.